20060104
When Bush last week signed the bill outlawing the torture of detainees, he quietly reserved the right to bypass the law under his powers as commander in chief.http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/01/04/bush_could_bypass_new_torture_ban/
Some legal specialists said yesterday that the president's signing statement, which was posted on the White House website but had gone unnoticed over the New Year's weekend, raises serious questions about whether he intends to "follow the law."
Wiretapping
Looking for fault in those who seek what is right, is an interesting quagmire.
What they are looking for is something they can blackmail critics into staying silent with.
Cheney strongly defends spying on Americans Without A Court Order
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/01/04/cheney_strongly_defends_eavesdropping/
Revelations that the National Security Agency was secretly monitoring phone calls between people in the United States and suspected al Qaeda followers abroad has sparked an outcry from Democrats and Republicans, with many lawmakers and rights groups questioning whether it "violates the U.S. Constitution."
If we don’t stop extending our troops all around the world in nation-building missions, we’re going to have a serious problem coming down the road.
– George WMD Bush
U.S. XXXXXXXXX George WMD Bush's re$election campaign will give to charity several thousand dollars in contributions linked to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, the White House said on Wednesday.
http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=URI:urn:newsml:reuters.com:20060104:MTFH39811_2006-01-04_14-35-43_N04237414:1
McClellan said Abramoff attended three Hannukah receptions at the White House over the past several years.
A US grand jury in Guam opened an investigation of controversial lobbyist Jack Abramoff more than two years ago, but President Bush removed the supervising federal prosecutor, and the probe ended soon after.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/08/08/bush_removal_ended_guam_investigation/
A White House news release announced that Bush was replacing Black.
Hastert donates Abramoff-linked money
That does not get you off the hook for having taken it in the first place.
Abramoff has been indicted for shady business involving the purchase of Florida casino boats from a man who was subsequently murdered in what looks like a Mafia hit. Abramoff funnelled millions of dollars raised from Native American tribal leaders, who have got rich by allowing casinos on their reservations, into the pockets of mainly Republican congressional leaders.
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php?article_id=8037
Abramoff also put money into the US Family Policy Network, a lobbying group run by DeLay’s former chief of staff. Allegedly $1 million was put up by Russian oil and gas executives. According to the Washington Post, Abramoff also used money he raised supposedly to help inner city children to fund such good causes as “a sniper school for Israelis in the West Bank”.
Increasing Calls for PM Sharon to Step Down
Calls directed at Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, to step down from office, are resonating from many prominent political personalities following a Channel 10 News report on Tuesday night that the prime minister received a $3 million payment from a sup... OHMYGAWDLOOKATTHETERRORISTBOMB!!!!
Anthrax? Hello? Anybody Home? Hello?
Do you remember how Anthrax was on television, in magazines, in newspapers; seemingly downloaded into your brain at almost every moment of your waking day-- for months? According to a LexisNexis search conducted by TomDispatch.com, "between Oct. 4 and Dec. 4, 2001, 389 stories appeared in the New York Times with "anthrax" in the headline." During the same period, 238 "anthrax" stories appeared in the Washington Post. Think about that for a second. Now consider the noise made by all the other media outlets. Now add all that noise together. That's a lot of noise.
These days though, the silence is deafening.
That's because the one suspect they had, who was caught entering the storage area where the Anthrax was kept, without authorization and after being fired from his job following a racially-motivated attack on an Egyptian co-worker, turned out not to be an Arab.
The two most pressing foreign policy problems for the Bush administration in 2006—indeed, they might be called twin crises—are, first, the unraveling of Iraq and the emergence of a theocracy in Baghdad under the control of the Shiite religious parties, and second, the serious (though somewhat overblown and artificial) showdown that is looming over Iran's alleged nuclear program. Not surprisingly, the crises in Iraq and Iran are closely related, not least because Iran's ruling clergy is closely allied to the theocrats in Baghdad.
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20060103/the_twin_crises_of_2006.php
The White House continues to argue that Iran is backing Iraq's insurgency, that Iran is a key state sponsor of world terrorism and that Iran harbors Al Qaeda officials. And, according to The New York Times, the United States has imposed unilateral sanctions on Chinese, Indian and Austrian companies accused of arming Iran, an action that could torpedo efforts to solve the Iran crisis peacefully. Noted the Times : "New U.S. sanctions against nine foreign companies accused of aiding Iran's weapons programs could signal a harder line toward Tehran by the Bush administration and could hinder diplomatic efforts by Europe to end the standoff over Iran's nuclear program, EU officials and analysts said Wednesday."
At this stage, it's likely that talk of attacking Iran is just saber-rattling, since such an attack would have incalculable, destabilizing repercussions throughout the region, and among them would be an all-out Iranian effort to overthrow the U.S. mission in Iraq. And an attack on Iran would be strongly opposed by Russia, China, India and most of Europe and the Arab world. But neoconservatives in the United States, and co-thinkers in Israel (notably, Benjamin Netanyahu of the Likud bloc and his allies in the military), undoubtedly are looking for an opening to press for an attack on Iran. And fueling the fire is the bombastic rhetoric from Iran's President Ahmadinejad questioning whether the Jewish Holocaust happened and suggesting Israel be "wiped off the map." In an environment so volatile, it is foolish to dismiss the possibility of a U.S. or Israeli attack on Iran sometime in 2006.
Russia cutting Ukranian gas supply is about Iran. Its a warning to all europian countries what will happen to them if they support a strike on Iran.
Something to keep in mind when reading the proliferation of articles by pundits on both sides regarding the probability of hostilities with Iran. Very few, if any, mention the Iranian Oil Bourse opening in March which will trade oil in EUROS instead of US Dollars. This will be the final act in the demise of the almighty US dollar, and will bring on the ultimate collapse of the US economy which is already breathing its last sputtering gasps.
Dollar sees largest one day slide in four years
http://www.ameinfo.com/75254.html
On the first day of official trading in 2006, the dollar has weakened significantly against the majors, with the dollar index seeing its largest one day decline since September 11, 2001.
Dollar losses deepen after earthquake reports
The dollar fell half a percent to two-month lows against the euro and three-week lows against the Swiss franc on Wednesday, after reports of an earthquake in the Gulf of California followed talk of an end to U.S. rate rises.
¶ 4.1.06
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